No sleep til Porto

I just received word that Nicole and the rest of her co-workers made it onto a bus headed for Madrid. They will drive across the south of France and Spain all night an arrive in Madrid in the morning. From there they will be picked up by someone from the company for the 5 hour drive back to Porto. Here is a photo from the bus via Maggie.

Apartment Hunt

I honestly thought that finding an apartment here wouldn't be that hard. Turns out that rentals are a little harder to come by then expected. There are tons of places for sale but not many for rent. When you do find an apartment for rent, it is fairly common for the place to come without any kitchen appliances. The apartment will have a kitchen with no kitchen! Some have been fancy. Some have been a total wreck (think haunted house). Here are just a few images of the apartment that we have seen in our search.

The Volcano

So, Nicole went to Milan for work this week...and got stuck there because of a VOLCANO! I am going to have to let Nicole type a post about how crazy it was when she gets home...whenever that may be. Until then here is a map of the ash cloud effecting Europe.

Eyajaf*ckawhat?

This thing all the way in Iceland is making my life hell, all the way in Italy!
And nobody can even pronounce it!

Our weekend in Peniche: Part 1

So we live here now.

You know, a traditional American hat...

So my co-worker "Jim" who is a bit of a typical young, outgoing, party hopping dude, informs me last week that he will be DJing at his local watering hole. Now, for most of you reading this, you have DJed, have a friend that is a DJ, or at the very least have been to a bar or club with a DJ and so I am going to assume that the term DJ conjures up a similar idea to both you and I. I am not sure it means quite the same thing to him. Jim is a young guy but his musical tastes lean more towards classic rock and cheesy blasts from the past. He is fairly certain that all things cheesy are ironic and therefore cool. Which lets be honest isn't a far stretch from the stereotypical ironic hipster we love to hate. The difference is that the hipster in Williamsburg, London, San Francisco or Baltimore or wherever actually has a point of reference for what is "hip". Jim over here - ehhh, not so much.
But that's ok. Jim is truly all about just having a good time, for good times sake. So he orders a few CD's and when they arrive he decides he is going to go through them to listen to what gems he has scored. The title of one collection of CD's is "Old School Hip Hop to Jog to" - or something like that. There are a few Sr. Mix A Lot songs along with House of Pain's "Jump Around", you get where this collection is headed right? The next compilation he has is "100 of BEST Disco Songs". I don't think I have to elaborate on the musical genius that is hiding within this collection of tunes.
Now I have been called a music snob on more than one occation, and the term pretentious has been hurled my way before, so I recognize that my making fun of this mix is pretty low, but...come on you know you feel the same way about this. And so, a good chunk of the afternoon is spent with Jim and Pam listening to these compilations, skipping happily through them to discover more and more one hit wonders and hopeful party rockers. It was like a VH1 Rock Doc: "Behind the Worst Music of our Times".
This whole DJ thing gets better when Jim informs me that it will be a theme party. The theme you ask...80's track suits, yes, in all their neon or velour glory. I expect it to be a killer night out on the town. I'll let you know how my rump shakin' get's on.
The icing to this DJ cake comes when Jim says "Oh, I got one of those traditional American style hats, so I can keep my hands free. You know those hats that you can put a drink on either side of." Ya, the good ole traditional American double beer helmet. His other thoughts on traditional Americana: the red plastic cup. Well, he has a fair point with that one.